Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 23, 2001

2001-03-23 04:00:00 PDT Anaheim -- Three thousand miles or so outside of the world that is the beltway, Maryland beat a not-so-familiar neighbor to find its way beyond the Sweet 16. Finally.

The Terps took out Georgetown 76-66 last night in the NCAA West Regional at The Pond -- two teams within 15 miles of each other needing a cross-country trek to bring them together for only the second time since 1980.

It seems Maryland and Georgetown have never quite seen eye to eye on coming together, at least not for a couple decades; but the Terps would have played anybody and gone anywhere to get to this point.

They had that sour experience recurring for them in the Sweet 16, dumped four times in four tries during the Gary Williams era. But by enduring a hectic and hacking kind of game (the teams combined for 31 turnovers, and Georgetown committed 28 fouls), the Terps managed to put themselves within a game of the Final Four.

Williams, naturally, used the opportunity to thrash the all-or-nothing nature of the tournament and the big "L" that had been plastered across his forehead.

"We win one more game and all of a sudden I'm a lot smarter," Williams said.

Photo: MICHAEL MACOR

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Maryland's 35- Lonny Baxter goes up for a shot against Georgetown's 44- Ruben Boumtje Boumtje in the first half. Georgetown V. Maryland third round action at the Anaheim Pond, Southern Califronia by Michael Macor/The Chronicle less

Maryland's 35- Lonny Baxter goes up for a shot against Georgetown's 44- Ruben Boumtje Boumtje in the first half. Georgetown V. Maryland third round action at the Anaheim Pond, Southern Califronia by Michael ... more

He became Williams The Wiser in large part because the Terps went to a zone in the second half and, well, Georgetown can't shoot. The Hoyas missed 26 of 36 shots in the second half -- with 14 of 18 misses on 3-point tries -- and they also turned the ball over 11 times after the break, when Maryland pressed frequently.

How perplexed was Georgetown? Nearly nine minutes into the second half, the Hoyas had one more point (nine) than they had fouls (eight).

It also didn't hurt Maryland that it had 6-foot-8, 260-pound Lonny Baxter to shrug off a stream of lankier-but-lighter big men. Baxter finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds (seven offensive), and he had one momentum-swinging block in the second half.

"It's amazing the things he can do," Maryland point guard Steve Blake said.

Those are the kinds of words often said of guys like Maryland's Juan Dixon and Georgetown's Kevin Braswell, boyhood pals from the D.C. area who squared off for the first time in their college careers.

Dixon wound up with 13 points and three steals, while Braswell had 17 points -- though he made only three of 12 shots and didn't score a point until nearly 18 minutes into the game.

Maryland's victory ended a string of not-so-pleasant NCAA experiences for Williams and his College Park teams. The Terps lost Sweet 16 games in 1994, '95, '98 and '99, and they were bumped in the first round in '96, '97 and last year.